The next morning, Marcus continued his journey to the capital. He ran in the forest, parallel to the road leading to the capital. He stayed close to the road so that he wouldn't get hopelessly lost, of course.
He also didn't take the path itself because he didn't want anyone to see him either. He didn't prepare anything for his trip, so his shirt was gone at this point, and his pants that used to reach his ankles were now barely covering his knees, and was also torn and ripped in many places.
He looked like a caveman, and walking on the path would only draw attention and trouble. By the way, Marcus didn't think about any of this. He was just embarrassed. Lucky bastard made the right decision in the end, so it doesn't matter.
He had also streamlined his hunting process, making it much more efficient compared to the first day. Whenever he felt hungry, he would first look for a water source. Once he found it, he would prepare a pile of dried leaves and sticks. Then he would hunt nearby using Concussion and Cannon Ball.
Once that was done, he would hoist his kill over his shoulder, bring it to his makeshift campsite, tear off the skin, tear out some meat, wash it in the water source, leave it to cook, then tear out more meat and repeat the process.
He would then quickly wash himself and eat.
About halfway through his journey, he was stopped by a peculiar occurrence happening on the main path. He hid in the forest and observed as a group of men with savage looks and deadly weapons surrounded a posh carriage.
A man who looked really neat and seemed to be in a suit had gotten down and looked at the men around him calmly. The driver seemed to be quaking in his boots.
Suddenly the door of the carriage and out came a young lady with silver-blue hair and a sword attached to her hip.
The most savage man among them looked at the young woman with a glint in his eyes as he licked his lips.
"Kekekeke, look at that boys, we found a pretty girl! Today's haul is gonna be pretty good!"
The other men jeered and laughed along with that man. The butler looked at them in pure disgust.
"Disgusting bandits. Young lady, do you want to practice on them? Or should I get rid of these pests for you? I want to give them a peace of my mind for daring to look at you this way, but I will follow your will"
"Let me practice Manny, it's not everyday that I get to cut down bandits"
The bandit leader laughed.
"Oi, oi, what are you blabbing about? Cut down? You? Kekekekekeke! Did you hear that boys?"
Amidst the laughter of the bandits, the young lady withdrew her sword. It was a thin katana. She took a deep breath, and a blue glow surrounded the katana. She exhaled mist as cold, frosty air surrounded her.
Then she was running. She shot towards the leader, giving him a small cut on his shoulder, then dashed toward another man and gave him a cut a well, cutting a thin line in his side. Once she was done giving everyone a cut, she stood a bit away from them, sheathed her sword and inhaled again.
As soon as her sword clicked into place, frost originated from those cuts and quickly started spreading through the bandits bodies. Needless to say, they fell into panic and disarray. The bandit leader saw his arm freezing and turned to the girl, roaring,
"What did you do!? How dare you! I'm gonna-"
He could not finish his sentence as the frost spread through his body and froze him from the inside out. The butler nodded with pride and satisfaction.
"Please, go back inside and rest young lady. You've done well"
"Thank you Manny, I'll get back inside now"
Saying so, she climbed back into the carriage.
"Yes, please do, young lady"
The butler walked to each of the bandit statues, hit them once, watched until they fell to the ground and crumbled to bits, before moving on to the next one. Once he had destroyed all the statues, he sat back on his seat next to the driver.
"We can continue onward now"
The driver nodded frantically.
"Of course!"
He snapped the reins and they set off once again to the capital. Marcus watched them go, dazed. It took him a good minute to snap out of it. He shook his head as he also started walking.
That was so cool! That girl was so powerful!
Then his mood turned a bit somber.
I'm sure Amelia will also be that strong soon right? Even Eli, I'm sure they will be strong enough to protect the entire village-No, the entire kingdom...While I'll be here, trying my best to survive.
He shook his head again.
It doesn't matter. I just hope they will stay safe. No matter what anyone says, even if they themselves deny it, we were once the best of friends and I'm proud of them.
His walk slowly turned into a run as he continued to travel through the forest, his thoughts slowly drifting back to lighter things, like his next meal.
As he was thinking about whether he should have boar or bear for dinner, way ahead of him, Manny glanced back at his position in the forest, just for a second, before focusing back on the road once more.
The rest of his journey was thankfully, completely uneventful and passed by without a hitch. On the tenth day after he had left the village, Marcus finally saw the huge capital city on the horizon. It looked incredibly huge and intimidating, compared to his tiny village.
As he looked at the towering walls, the huge buildings and spires that rose from inside it, and the huge crowd of people walking to and from those massive gates, he couldn't help but think about...everything.
What brought him here, how he had survived. He felt a rush of emotions. A bit of everything. But the thing he felt the most was satisfaction...and sorrow.
He had done it. He had reached the capital with nothing but his own strength. But it had costed him everything. His sister, his friends and all the kind elders in his village. But he would move forward, since it was all he could do.
So he did, toward Lumiere.